| 摘要 |
The present invention provides a sorbent with a high pickup ratio (>30 to 1) that has environmental benefits relating to renewable resource use of waste material as primary ingredients and is biodegradable; that is suitable for use on water and on land in a wide variety of forms; that is fire retardant; that incorporates a manufacturing process resulting in a finished product of low embodied energy; and results in a sorbent that is uncommonly simple, inexpensive, and effective. The improved sorbent also provides three options for disposal when the sorbent is full of oil. The first option allows extraction of absorbed oil by simple compression that results in a 70% recovery of oil without contamination by water. The used sorbent can be reused repeatedly afterward. A second option allows a used sorbent that, although flame resistant in its unused state, can be burned as fuel to recover 100% of energy with the sorbent contributing only 1% ash. The invention's third option allows the addition of oil digesting microbes to the sorbent. A sorbent with such microbes would allow dumping the used sorbent contaminated with oil in the environment. The microbes would provide effective bioremediation of used sorbent. A long shelf-life is possible because the sorbent would include a system for protection of oil digesting microbes together with their necessary nutrients while being maintained in a dormant state until their activity is triggered. The sorbent has the capability of remediating a wide range of liquid spills other than just oils or hydrocarbons, such as synthetic oils, fuels, coolants, paints, polymers, alcohols, blood and plasma, pharmaceuticals, sewage, solvents, oils with PCB's, aromatics, chromates, cyanides, sulfides, insecticides, and herbicides. The sorbent could also be customized with microbes to bioremediate specific contaminants and to pickup a wide variety of liquids.
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